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Myths & Misunderstandings

Last year, comments on one of our Facebook posts sparked a larger conversation about recurring debates about the Civil War. We asked our visitors, social media audiences, and staff to generate a list of the questions or topics about the Civil War that they think are the most misunderstood. It turns out that we get just as many questions about our own museum and its future, so we thought we’d address some of the more commonly asked questions.

Misunderstanding- “Civil War” is not the proper term for the American War of 1861-1865

Even in our contentious times, Americans from opposite sides of the Mason-Dixon Line are capable of enjoying moments of levity over “the Late Unpleasantness,” “the War of Northern Aggression,” and other playful names for that war fought between 1861 and 1865.

No, but it will come as a surprise to many people, that Grant did in fact own a man named William Jones for about a year on the eve of the Civil War. In 1859, Grant either bought or was given the 35-year-old Jones, who was in Grant’s service until he freed him before the start of the War.

Myth: Thousands of enslaved and free African American soldiers fought for the Confederacy

For several decades, the question of whether or not there were “Black Confederates” has been one of the most controversial issues in the study of Civil War history. The disagreement arises in part from rival ideological positions, but also traces to different definitions of key terms, especially “soldier.”

In 1891 the pastor of Thomas Jonathan Jackson’s Lexington Presbyterian Church, William S. White, declared that the Virginia Military Institute professor had been “the black man’s friend.” White said so because of Jackson’s supervision of a “Colored Sunday School” between 1855 and the outbreak of the Civil War.

Earlier this summer, comments on one of our Facebook posts sparked a larger conversation about recurring debates about the Civil War. We asked our visitors, social media audiences, and staff to generate a list of the questions or topics about the Civil War that they think are the most misunderstood. In providing answers to these, our goal is to do the research for you, consulting with primary sources, leading historians, and the latest scholarship, and distill it into something you can read quickly over a cup of coffee.

Earlier this summer, comments on one of our Facebook posts sparked a larger conversation about recurring debates about the Civil War. We asked our visitors, social media audiences, and staff to generate a list of the questions or topics about the Civil War that they think are the most misunderstood. In providing answers to these, our goal is to do the research for you, consulting with primary sources, leading historians, and the latest scholarship, and distill it into something you can read quickly over a cup of coffee.

Earlier this summer, comments on one of our Facebook posts sparked a larger conversation about recurring debates about the Civil War. We asked our visitors, social media audiences, and staff to generate a list of the questions or topics about the Civil War that they think are the most misunderstood. In providing answers to these, our goal is to do the research for you, consulting with primary sources, leading historians, and the latest scholarship, and distill it into something you can read quickly over a cup of coffee.